


Already choking on my pride

by Strength_in_pain



Series: Comforting Peter Parker because he deserves love [10]
Category: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Embarrassed Peter Parker, Frustrated May Parker, Gen, Helpful Tony Stark, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt/Comfort, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Tony Stark Coparenting Peter Parker, Peter Parker Cries, Peter Parker Gets a Hug, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Whump, Peter Parker is a Little Shit, Peter Parker is a Mess, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony Stark is Good With Kids, Worried May Parker (Spider-Man)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:07:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24357025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Strength_in_pain/pseuds/Strength_in_pain
Summary: “Whoa! Mr. Stark! Did you see that? I just got electrocuted!”ORBasically just some Whump about Peter after he gets an electrical burn. Peter doesn’t want to take any medicine and he’s overly embarrassed about everything.
Relationships: Happy Hogan & May Parker (Spider-Man), May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker & Tony Stark, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Comforting Peter Parker because he deserves love [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1698844
Comments: 12
Kudos: 143





	Already choking on my pride

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! Hope you are well. I kinda worked myself up over worrying about stupid little things a few days ago (even tho, to me it wasn’t stupid) but I decided what better way than to incorporate those feelings into a story. So like the summary says, this is basically just Peter crying. Enjoy 😂

“Have a good night, Mrs. Robertson. Tell your husband I wish him well at his new job.”

“Thank you. I will.” Mrs. Robertson said, as she put her wallet back in her purse before grabbing both shopping bags by their handles. A young man opened the door for her and waved as she left the Mall. 

The tall, dark skinned woman, scurried across the street in her high-heeled shoes. Once she was in the parking lot, she searched for her car. Her gold earrings were shimmering in the sunset as she set her bags down on the pavement beside her yellow SUV. Digging through her purse, Mrs. Robertson had just found her car keys when suddenly she heard the sound of metal being scraped together. 

She turned to see a woman in a red robe and a black mask standing behind her. The thing that really caught her eye, however, was the pair of Japanese swords. 

“Give me your wallet.” The woman twirled her swords around like a pro, “Or face death.”

Mrs. Robertson was frozen in terror, her heartbeat increasing by the second. She took a trembling hand and reached it inside her purse to pull out her wallet. 

“Please don’t hurt me.” She whispered, handing the ninja woman her money. 

“Sorry, but I don’t leave survivors.”

A shadow passed overhead, then suddenly a man in red and blue spandex dropped directly in front of her. 

“Relax, Mrs. Robertson. Everything will be fine. Just put your faith in your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.”

Mrs. Robertson felt oxygen enter her lungs once again as she watched her savior take a defensive stance directly in front of her. But still, she was weary. 

“Be careful, Spider-Man. This person has a sword.”

“Ah yes, but razor sharp blades are no match for your humble web-crawler.” 

“You’re in my way, and you talk too much.” The ninja said, maneuvering the sword through her fingers. 

“Yeah, I get that a lot.” Spider-Man leaped forward and kicked the Ninja, sending her flying across the parking lot, tumbling back, until she skid to her feet. The gravel cracked beneath her. 

In the meantime, Spider-Man snatched back the stolen purse which had fallen, and tossed it to his shivering audience member. 

“Get out of here, Mrs. Robertson.” He called, “I’ll take the rest from here.”

He watched happily as the woman jumped in her car and drove away before turning his attention back to the woman with the swords. 

“Well well, Spider-Man. I hoped to face you in combat today.” The Ninja said, running at him with full force. 

“What can I say, I make dreams come true everyday.” Spider-Man explained as he dodged the Ninja’s front flip and rolled away from the five star blades that were thrown at him. 

“I hate to rush this, but I got an English exam I need to study for so if you don’t mind... YEOW!”

A bolt of electricity buzzed through Spider-Man’s right-arm and reached the ninja before exiting through her left arm. 

For a second everything went black. When Spidey came to, he was sitting in the parking lot, staring at the Ninja who was unconscious on the other side. 

Extreme thirst was all Spidey could concentrate on until he saw a man in a bright green and yellow costume, standing above him. 

“Hi Spider-Man. I must say it’s a shock to meet you.” The man doubled over laughing, “Get it? A shock?”

Spider-Man stumbled to his feet, noticing that the air around him was cloudy and covered with smoke, “Ha Ha. Real funny.”

“I’m so sorry, where are my manners. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Electro, the most strong and powerful being in the entire world.”

“Umm, yeah, I doubt that.”

“Fool! You dare try and humiliate me?”

“No! No humiliation Mr. Elecro, sir. It’s just, well - uh - I’m sure there are other more powerful creatures out there. Thor for instance... Iron man... probably Captain America... and oh yeah, me.” 

“We’ll see about that!” Electro fired a blast of sonic energy, but Spider-Man sensed it coming and jumped out of the way. The blast destroyed a glass window on a car behind him but left his target unscratched. Electro continued his attack, and fired at the superhero relentlessly. 

Though Spider-Man was a pro at dodging attacks, he couldn’t think of a way to stop Electro’s assaults. 

“Karen! Any ideas on how to stop this creep?” He asked his suit. 

The AI immediately responded, “It appears the electro-blasts are being emitted from a man behind you. The best way to stop the assault would be to disarm the man.”

“Yeah Karen, that much I know. The question is, how do I do that?! He’s too powerful. I can’t get a good swing at him from way back here, and I can’t get any closer or I’ll be fried to a crisp.”

“Would you like me to engage in enhanced combat mode?”

“No, that won’t help. I’ll still get burnt. I hate to say this because I don’t want to bother him, but can you call Mr. Stark, please?” 

“Yes, Peter.” Karen responded kindly. 

Within a seconds time, Tony’s face was up on his screen, covering half his face. Peter knew right then and there that the first adjustment he will be making to his suit this weekend is the positioning of his mentor’s face during face-calls. 

“Hey kid, what’s up?”

“Okay. Um. I kinda need a plan, and fast. This dude, Electro, is like blasting the Mall parking lot right now and -AGGH.”

Peter flipped forward, a small ping of pain in his back had him smacking against a wall, before landing sloppily on his legs. He stumbled forward, before slinging his web around a street light and flying though the air to get away from the volley of blasts. 

Tony dropped his Stark Biotech subsidiary papers on the desk, and gripped the phone tighter, “Peter!? Are you okay?”

“Yeah! Sorry. Hit a wall. Got any ideas sir?”

Tony quickly asked Friday to pull up baby monitor footage so he could assess the situation. 

“Alright, what you need to do is short circuit this bastard. I’ll tell you how. Listen closely.”

“On it, Mr. Stark.” 

While Tony was instructing his kid, he was watching everything through the monitor. 

“Like this?” Peter asked.

“Move down. There you go.” Tony advised. The kid almost had it, but then, he was struck by a blast of electricity and literally sizzled before Tony’s eyes. His shirt was on fire, and his brown hair was standing on ends.

“Peter!!” Tony jolted out of his chair, stepping quickly into his suit, as he rushed out the door. He could see Peter through the footage in his helmet, and the kid seemed to be dazed. 

“Kid? You okay?”

“Whoa! Mr. Stark! Did you see that? I just got electrocuted!”

“Peter! That’s not a good thing.” 

“I know, I know. But you gotta admit it was pretty awesome. Could you see my skeleton on video?”

“Kid, cut the damn wire.”

“Oh right.” 

Peter finished doing as he was instructed, smiling in satisfaction as Electro malfunctioned in front of him.

“It worked! It worked!” Peter was leaping up and down, quickly shooting his webs at Electro to tie the man down. “Whoa, that was crazy.”

Tony landed soon after, jogging to a stop in front of Peter. He quickly noted the motionless Electro, before grasping Peter sharply by the shoulders. 

“Hey M’sr Stark.” The kid mumbled, smiling with a gooey expression. 

“Where are you hurt?” Tony yelled, checking the boy over. 

“Arm’s pretty sore,” Tony’s eyes widened at the huge electrical burn encasing his lower arm. 

“Shit.”

“Is nothing M’sr Stark. Just a little charred.”

“You need a trip the the Med Bay, now.”

“Nooo” Peter whined. He didn’t want to be treated like a baby over a tiny wound.

“Did he strike you anywhere else.”

“No.” Peter chewed his lip, feeling guilty for lying. 

“Spill it, Pinocchio.” 

“Okay fine. He got my back too.”

A flash of concern lit up in Tony’s brown eyes. A burn on the back sounded atrocious. Tony knows from years of injuries that the back was always a real bitch when it came to recovery. 

“Let’s go.” He grabbed Peter under his armpits and began flying towards the compound. 

During the flight, after the adrenaline had completely worn off, Peter was feeling an excruciating amount of pain. A series of intense burning and piercing sensations traveled up and down his arm. 

“Mr. Stark... I don’t feel so good.” Peter croaked, feeling extremely overheated and faint.

Tony, on the other hand, was having a mild heart attack at the kid’s choice of words. He gripped the boy tighter in his hold, and maximized his ion thrusters so he could get to the compound faster. 

“Mr. Stark!” Peter gasped, the thirst and stinging feeling growing worse. He swallowed a cry, and yanked off his mask. He proceeded to bite down on the material to suppress any unwanted whimpering sounds. He felt pathetic for acting like such a baby over a little burn. 

But the pain was unbearable. Every once of his skin felt like it was engulfed in a thousand degree acid. 

“Mr. Stark, Mr. Stark, Mr. Stark,” His voice was muffled from the mask in his mouth, but nothing could hide the hurt behind his words. The kid was warning, no, telling Tony that he was about to break down at any given second, and Tony knew it. 

“Shh, almost there, Pete. Hang on, kid.”

Peter let out a whimper, hating the way it sounded. He did his best to attempt to curb the tears. After all, he could stomach a bit of pain. The problem was this wasn’t just a bit of pain, it was unrelenting. The burns were only hurting worse every second. His throat constricted and he felt his eyes grow moist.

“I don’t feel good!” He cried again, this time a sob breaking from his throat. 

“I swear we are two minutes away.”

But Peter’s body was convulsing with harsh ugly sobs, which didn’t ease the pain, but felt good nonetheless.

Everything was blurry and he thought he might pass out. Apparently, Mr. Stark noticed too, because he kept repeating, ‘Kid, stay with me.’

In the Med Bay, he was bombarded with questions from the doctors, one of them was Doctor Cho. 

“What happened?” 

“Electrocution.” Tony replied, placing Peter down on the gurney. Everyone winced at his frantic cries. 

“Where?”

“His arm and back.”

People were buzzing around him like bees, a bunch of doctors and nurses spewing medical babble that was lost on him. He looked up, and everything was white, but he could still see Mr. Stark’s hand, resting on the side of the gurney. 

But then he was placed on a bed, more bright lights blinded him as a bunch of people’s faces hovered over him. Everything was ringing but worst of all, he lost sight of Mr. Stark’s hand. Blind panic began to take over as he searched frantically for his mentor. The only face he would recognize in this jungle of people. 

Suddenly Peter felt the doctors cut him out of his suit, inspecting his body for burns. They poked and prodded, causing more hellish pain to sweep over him. When someone grazed the burn on his arm, he screamed, loud and long, without pause. 

“Peter,” he heard Mr. Stark’s frantic shout from somewhere, it sounded close. 

“Come on, kiddo, relax.”

He stopped screaming. Instead he tried to lift his head to find Mr. Stark, but someone pushed him back down. 

Peter was half grateful that doctor Cho had a medical team already assembled, and also half upset because he felt like so many people were suffocating him, forcing him down. He was given a pain medication and an IV for the dehydration. 

“The morphine will help him feel sleepy, but he can’t absorb it too well. Still, it should do the trick well enough so he can relax.” Doctor Cho was telling someone. Maybe it was Mr. Stark? 

Unfortunately he didn’t get a chance to find out because five seconds later, after the IV kicked in, he fell asleep. When he awoke, he noticed the room was white, a baby blue blanket was draped over his torso, and Mr. Stark was sitting in an uncomfortable looking chair next to his bed.

A gentle hand brushed his hair back, and Peter nearly jumped out of his skin before realizing it was May. 

“Hey, there.” She whispered. “You were beginning to worry us.”

Peter’s lower lip wobbled. “I’m sorry.” 

“What are you saying sorry for?” She shook her head. “You don’t have to apologize, Peter. It’s fine.”

“I shouldn’t have... I worried you... shouldn’t have fallen asleep.”

Tony slouched forward, snickering softly, “May was panicking, but I knew you’d be fine, Underoos.”

“Yeah right, he nearly had a heart attack ten minutes ago.” May deadpanned. 

“I wasn’t worried, I was pissed. What kind of an idiot takes pictures while a kid’s getting bandaged!”

“He was a medical reporter, Tony. He was documenting the injuries.”

Tony’s lips formed an ‘o’ shape, and he glanced up at the ceiling. “Well... I just fired him so I guess we should look for another.”

“Can you even do that?”

“I’m Tony Stark. I can do whatever I want.”

“I’m sure Cho will be thrilled to hear about this.”

“Guys,” Peter whined. He wanted them to stop bickering. 

“How do you feel, underoos?” 

“Sore.” Peter mumbled. 

“Yeah, I bet you are. You sustained a few second degree burns. Doctors said your skin’s going to fall off before being replaced with new skin.”

Peter winced. “Ew.”

“You’re going to need to wash it off with baby soap every night, cause that Johnson & Johnson crap is supposed to soothe the wounds, and then you’re going to apply fresh bandages, got it?” 

Peter smirked, “Did you memorize the entire list of instructions that the doctors gave you?” 

“Yes, of course I did.” His face was so serious, Peter couldn’t help but laugh. 

Tony returned the smile, ruffling Peter’s fluffy brown hair in the process. “I’m going to program Karen to make sure you follow all the instructions.”

“No, Mr. Stark. No.”

“It’s going to be called the Medicine Dropper protocol.” 

Peter moaned, feeling deeply embarrassed about the whole thing. How could he be such a baby over a few burns which we’re going to heal on their own in a few days anyway. 

“I don’t need medicine.”

“Don’t,” Stark muttered, “You’re taking the medicine, no further discussion.”

“But Mr. Stark -“

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of, Pete.” 

But Peter was ashamed, staring stonily at the floor while Tony got out of his chair and went somewhere out of sight for a moment. 

The more Peter replayed the scene back in his head, the angrier he became. He was supposed to be strong. He was supposed to be a superhero. But instead, he acted like a kid. No wonder Mr. Stark treated him like one all the time. If he’s going to cry in front of his childhood hero, then he should expect the man to think of him as a child. But that’s what made Peter’s blood boil. He wasn’t a normal kid. He could do extraordinary things, like stop that Ninja from mugging Mrs. Robertson. He shouldn’t be treat like some little kid who needs help. But he did need help today, and that was the worst part. 

Mr. Stark returned to the spot in front of him, holding out a jar of cream. 

“This is an antiseptic cream, with a strong painkiller mixed in. It’s dialed strong enough for your super fast healing abilities to absorb it. I made it myself a long time ago because I knew you couldn’t take regular pills with that metabolism. Speaking of which, get some food in your stomach, you look thin.”

Peter was pretty sure that last remark was meant to be a compliment. Sometimes Mr. Stark would throw him a bone when he was criticizing him. Maybe he thought it lightened the mood. But nothing could lighten Peter’s mood at the moment. 

“You’re supposed to apply it twice a day.”

Peter looked away, mortified. “Awesome.”

“Since you can’t reach your back by yourself I figured your extremely hot Aunt could apply it. She wants to take you home tonight. Let you rest up. I agreed of course. I think you would prefer your bedroom to this bleak, sterile, medical equipment.”

Embarrassed and angry, tears threatened to spill so Peter refused to turned around.

May frowned, rubbing his back. “What’s the matter?”

Peter shook his head, stubbornly refusing to look at her. May and Tony exchanged glances. 

With Peter’s back to both of them, they couldn’t tell what emotion he was dealing with, but they each had their ideas. May was the first to mouth the words ‘talk to him.’ 

Tony shook his head, waving his hands at the same time, silently whispering ‘no, no, no.”

“Why not.” May continued their silent conversation with squinting eyes. 

Tony pointed overtop of Peter’s head. “He needs to be alone.”

May couldn’t make out the words he just uttered. She scrunched her eyebrows and cupped a hand behind her ear. “What?”

Rolling his eyes, Tony sighed. He was growing tired of this game, and if it would make May happy, then he figured he could attempt to talk to the kid, even if he didn’t think it was the best time.

Ignoring the creaking in his knees, Tony crouched in front of Peter. 

“Hey...” Tony placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, but Peter shrugged it off.

“Don’t treat me like that.” Peter spat. 

“Like what?”

“Like you’re pitying me. I stopped that jerk all by myself. I’m fine. I don’t need your pity.”

Tony glanced over his shoulder at May with an I-told-you-so look. 

“I’m not pitying you, kid.” He said before looking back at the fiery brown eyes. 

“Then you can take your medicine back. I don’t want it.”

Pinching his eyes shut, Tony briefly wondered if having a kid as stubborn as Peter was payback for all the years he was difficult towards his own mother and father. It certainly felt like that sometimes. 

“I’m not taking the medicine back because you need it.”

“No I don’t.”

“Pete, you were electrocuted! Not once, not twice, but three times! Any normal person would have died. You’re lucky to only have a few second degree burns. So you’re going to take the damn medicine without further argument. Got it?”

“No.”

“Peter!” May shouted, giving him the most unappeased look she could muster. The kid flinched, shrinking back against the bedsheets. 

“I just want to go home.” He mumbled. 

“That can be arranged. Happy is downstairs right now, ready whenever the two of you are.” Tony said, lifting an eyebrow. 

The kid surprised him sometimes. He knew Peter was probably embarrassed about crying over something as trivial as pain, but he shouldn’t be. In the past, Tony would have been equally as embarrassed when he was a teen because he was just as prideful as Peter. But seeing it in Peter made him realize just how foolish it was to be prideful over an injury. 

Peter clutched the bedsheets tighter. “I’m ready now.”

May’s soft eyes darted to Peter’s bandaged arm which was partially covered with a frozen ice pack, and she looked at the purple bruised vein on his arm where the IV was previously attached, while chewing her bottom lip. 

“Are you sure you want to go right now? The doctors just took out your IV.”

“I don’t need to be here.” Peter said sternly.

Tony nodded at May, “He can go home. It’s alright.”

May reluctantly agreed. “Well thank you for the medicine, Tony. It must have taken you a while to make it.”

The engineering genius chuckled. “It was nothing. I’ll happily make more if our spiderling needs it. Let me know, okay?”

“Of course,” May smiled, giving his arm a squeeze before helping Peter out of bed.

“I can walk myself,” Peter all but growled, nearly shoving his aunt away. 

That did it for Tony. He could handle a stubborn attitude and a prideful kid, but pushing and shoving people in a childish manner was not going to be tolerated. 

“Hey,” Tony released the gauntlet on his watch, and grabbed Peter by the wrist, pulling him close. Peter, although angry, was not able to pull away. Tony’s Ironman gauntlet was too strong.

“Listen, I know you’re all angsty and pissed that you got hurt, but that doesn’t mean you get to take it out on the people that are trying to help you.”

Tony’s brown eyes were dangerously dark and Peter swallowed hard. 

“Let me go,” the boy commanded, trying to sound intimidating. 

“Not until you apologize to your aunt.”

Peter clenched his jaw, struggling under Tony’s tight grasp. 

“Ugh fine. ‘m sorry, May.”

“It’s okay, Peter.” She whispered, carding her hand through his hair, “Tony, it’s okay.”

She locked eyes with the billionaire once more, pleased when he finally released his grip on her nephew’s wrist. 

“Thanks again, Tony,” She said, wrapping her arms around Peter’s shoulder and guiding him out the door. 

Happy was waiting for them by the car, grumpy expression on his face. But it melted into one of concern when he saw the bandage on Peter’s arm, and the pained expression on the boy’s face.

“Is he okay?” Happy asked while opening the car door for them.

“I’m fine,” Peter snapped. He plopped down in the backseat, jumping up as soon as his burnt back rubbed against the leather.

“Be carful.” May muttered, gently pulling his neck so he was laying down, his head on her lap. 

“Oh yeah, you seem totally fine.” Happy sassed from the driver’s seat. He shifted the gears of the car, then slowly backed out of the compound.

“He’s got a couple of burns. No biggie.” May said, trying to downplay the situation for her nephew’s sake. But the fact that she even mentioned his burns again seemed to provoke him. 

“Burns are a nasty business,” Happy grumbled, “They can be extremely painful and take weeks to heal. I would know. Remember when I was badly injured by the Mandarin in the Chinese Theatre?”

“Yeah,” May said. She remembered watching it on the news with her husband after they tucked Peter into bed several years ago. 

“Well I suffered a bunch of burns from that attack too. Plus it left me in a coma.” 

“I’m so sorry,” May whispered. 

“Oh I’m fine now. I’m just saying, the worst part was the burns.”

“Thanks Happy,” Peter shouted, rolling his eyes to the back of his head. 

“Sorry,” Happy mumbled. “I wasn’t trying to scare you.”

“Not scaring me,” Peter huffed. “Would everyone _please_ stop treating me like a baby. I’m not scared, and I’m not hurt.”

After Peter’s little outburst, the rest of the drive was quiet. Happy put on some music while Peter fell asleep. 

By the time they got to the apartment it was almost midnight. Peter quickly got to his room and fell asleep instantly. 

When Peter awoke the following day his arm was burning. Carefully, he touched his wound through the bandage and cringed. It was tender and he could feel the heat radiating from the area. He felt frustrated tears threaten to leak out of the corner of his eyes. For some reason, he really believed he would be completely healed. 

There was a knock at his door, then no pause before it swung open. Peter snapped his eyes in May’s direction. 

“Hey tough guy. How are you feeling?”

“Fine.” He whispered. He tried to sit up, but pain crossed his features so he laid back down on his soft blue duvet. 

May sat down on the edge of his bed. “I was going to make us some tea. Is there anything else I can get you?”

Peter shook his head, looking at the bedspread. Then, as May got up to leave, she heard him speak quietly.

“I‘m going to get something to eat myself.” 

“Are you sure you feel well enough to walk around? Honey, I saw your back yesterday. It was really blistered.”

He looked at her with a mixture of resentment and embarrassment. “It’s not that bad anymore. I healed.”

May raised her eyebrows. “Already?”

“Yup.”

May thought about it for a second. She decided it wouldn’t hurt to let Peter try and get up on his own if he felt well enough. But first she wanted to get Stark’s medicine on him. 

“Maybe. We’ll see after your get your medicine this morning.”

Peter almost leaped off the bed, anger flashing across his eyes. “W-What? No.”

“Yes. I want to see how you feel after some of Stark’s medicine.”

“I already told you, I feel fine!” Peter shrieked, bolting off the bed and storming out his bedroom door. 

May stood back, shocked by his reaction, but then followed him as he headed out the front door of the apartment. 

“Where are you going?”

“Out.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Peter. You’re in no condition to go anywhere.” 

He was breathing harshly as he grabbed the walls. He made it halfway to the elevator before dropping to his knees. One little girl walked out of her apartment room with her mother and gasped loudly.

“Mommy, why is that boy laying on the floor?”

The woman shot May and Peter a disgraceful look, before pulling her daughter closer. 

“Probably drugs.” She muttered as they walked past. May could have sworn she saw them turn up their noses as they got into the elevator.

“He’s hurt!” She shouted, “He’s not a drug addict you judgmental bi-“

“May,” Peter exclaimed, feeling rather nauseous. She bent over to grab his arm, but Peter pulled away and glared at her.

“I can get up myself.” 

“Stop acting like a childish brat!” May scolded. She regretted losing her temper, however, when he looked at her. It amazed May how wide her nephew’s eyes could get. 

“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. She couldn’t bear seeing the puppy-dog-eyes in so much pain. 

“Come on. Let’s get back in our room before someone else comes outside.”

She slid her arm around him, and this time Peter let her help him to his feet and lead him back inside. 

She laid him back in bed, and watched as a few tears dribbled down his cheeks. May decided at that moment, Peter was never allowed to use those puppy-dog-eyes ever again because her chest ached so badly, she thought she was having a heart attack.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered again, brushing a few tears away with her thumb. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“No, I’m sorry,” Peter said, voice wobbly. “I _am_ being childish. This is so stupid. But I just - I feel like - it’s not fair!”

Since he was young, Peter had struggled with talking about his feelings. He would talk about everything but when it came to telling his aunt or uncle how he felt, it was like pulling teeth. 

“What’s not fair?” 

Peter sniffled, using the back of his sleeve to wipe the tears off of his face. “This stupid medicine! It’s not fair.”

“It’s not fair that you need medicine?” She tried to clarify. 

“Yeah! Special medicine. It’s not fair. I’m the only person that needs to have it hand made and - and,” Peter hiccuped, glaring angrily at his wall, “and Mr. Stark is always going to know when I’m hurt and when I need help which is so embarrassing. And you - I can’t even apply it myself. It’s so humiliating.”

“Peter, Peter,” May grabbed his hands but he kept trying to flail them as he spoke.

“And now Happy knows and he’s going to mention in like a thousand times! And - and he’s going to make fun of me because he does that sometimes and then the stupid people Happy talks too are going to know, because he talks to everyone and he tells them everything and -“

“Peter!” May shook his hands again, “Stop.”

The teen pushed his bare feet out in front of him, and sat with his knees to his chest.

“You are overthinking this way too much. Nobody is going to make fun of you for needing medicine.”

“Special medicine.” Peter spat bitterly. 

“It’s only ‘special’ because of your fast -“

“Yeah. I know! But that’s why it’s not fair.”

“Peter. I think you’re letting yourself get ashamed of something that is out of your control.”

“I don’t want to take the stupid stuff. I don’t have to and I’m not going to.” 

“I think you should.” May tried to level her voice out, not too soft, not too stern. Something that would make Peter listen, but not upset him further. 

“No!” He replied stubbornly.

Frustration started to cloud May’s vision. She was getting nowhere and honestly this whole thing seemed ridiculous.

“It’s for your own good. Stark made it so you would feel better.”

“I don’t need it.” Peter stated, looking at her defiantly. 

“Peter -“

“I said no!”

“Fine!” May stood up and stomped over to his bedroom door. “You don’t want to feel better? Then Hurt. See if I care.”

With that she slammed the door shut and Peter’s face crumbled. He felt worse than ever. Never in his entire life did he experience such an angry response from his aunt. He almost thought it was a dream. It had to be because this couldn’t be happening. 

“May?” He called, making an awful coughing noise as another sob ripped through him. “May!”

His back stung so badly he thought he might die, his arm burned equally as much, and now his heart was heavy with concerns that his aunt would leave him. 

“I’m sorry!” He sobbed at his door, pleading for it to open again. He wanted to get up and follow her, but he had already exerted what little energy he had left. How could he be so stupid?

“May! Please! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” His knuckles were white as he gripped the edge of his bed. His head dropped to his chest as he cried pathetically. Peter let the tears soak the front of his shirt where they were dripping off his chin. 

Then suddenly, his bedroom door whipped open, and May hovered in the doorframe. 

“Whoa,” she said before rushing to his side. “What’s going on?” Her warm gaze was shimmering. 

“Y-You left.” Peter cried harder, if at all possible, and clutched his arms around her neck, tugging at the silky fabric of her dress-shirt. “And - and I couldn’t get up because- because it hurts and -“

“Peter, easy, easy, I’m so sorry. I left the apartment for like two minutes. I wanted to cool off. I had no idea you were this upset.”

“You just... you said...” Peter couldn’t breathe. He was hysterical. “Y-You said you didn’t - you didn’t - you didn’t care.”

“Breathe breathe breathe.” May whispered, physically rocking him back and forth, “It’s okay. I’m not going anywhere. I’m sorry I said what I said. I didn’t mean it.”

“You said -“

“I didn’t mean it. I was angry and I shouldn’t have said it.”

At hearing those words, Peter finally sucked in a much needed breath of air into his lungs. He started to breathe in and out, trying to control the sobs shuttering through his body.

“My b-back hurts.” He whispered into her shoulder. “I couldn’t even move to follow you.”

“Pete, this is why I wanted you to take the medicine.” May whispered into his ear. She gently placed a kiss on his temple, desperate to calm him.

“I don’t want to take the medicine.”

Peter knows it’s ridiculous at this point to put up any form of protest whatsoever, but May is patient and strokes his cheek, wiping away some tears with her thumb. It hardly matters, Peter’s whole face is soaked.

“But you said your back hurts.”

“It does but...oh okay” he sniffled, using the back of his sleeve to wipe the tears off his face. “Let’s get it over with.”

“All right. Lay down on your stomach.”

Peter rolled over on the bed, and pressed his flushed cheek against the cool blue sheets below him.

“This won’t hurt.” She promised, scooping her fingers into the jar that Stark gave her. “Please stop crying, honey. You’re killing me.”

Peter scrubbed at his eyes, trying to will the tears to stop while May lifted the bottom of his shirt up revealing the bandage around his lower back. Slowly, May unwrapped the gauze then swiped a generous amount of cream over the damaged skin. 

Peter rested his face in the crook of his elbow and waited for the humiliation to be over with. In all honesty, it wasn’t as bad as he had been expecting, and May was done in a flash. 

As May re-wrapped his injury in bandages, she was talking about the Mets game on TV last night. 

“Remember when were wolfing down hot dogs at the last game? Well, I convinced Happy to go to the grocery store and buy the same toppings we used.”

“That’s great, May. Wait, why is Happy buying our groceries.” Peter snuffled. 

“Like I said, I convinced him.” She smiled sweetly, but Peter felt a pit form in the bottom of his stomach. How exactly did his aunt convince Happy? 

“May...”

“Anyways, we should make those hot dogs again tonight when we watch the game on TV. What do you say?” 

“Yeah, yeah, that sounds good.” Peter agreed, still slightly shaken about the idea of his Aunt convincing Happy to do anything. Come to think of it, the two of them had been awfully chummy with one another in the car yesterday.

“But I was thinking for now, if you want, we can watch Star Wars?”

Peter beamed. “Really? You would watch it with me?”

“Yeah, I’d love to.” She said, finishing up the bandaging. 

“There you go. Good as new.” She said, tugging his shirt down. “How do you feel?”

“Better.” He whispered. “Still a little sore, but yeah that medicine is amazing. Mr. Stark definitely knows what he’s doing.”

“Yeah, and to think you didn’t want to take this.”

“I just... I was embarrassed.”

“I know.”

“But it was stupid.”

“It was.” May agreed, placing a kiss on the top of his head. “But we love you no matter how stupid.”

“You think Mr. Stark’s offended that I didn’t want his medicine?”

“Devastated.”

Peter grinned, shaking his head. “You have been hanging around Happy too much.” 

May shrugged. She supposed she had been hanging around the chauffeur more than a little. 

At the sight of Peter’s still red-rimmed eyes and sniffling, May wanted desperately to cheer him up. 

“There’s still some ice cream in the freezer.”

Peter’s eyes lit up. Sugary sweets was an in instant emotional-pick-me-up for the teenager. 

“Yeah! I want some.” He said, leaping out of bed. May smiled in relief. If he was able to get out a bed, then he was already doing way better than he was a few moments ago. 

“I thought you ate the last bit.” He accused.

“No, I always keep some ice cream hidden for emergencies.” May responded, following him to the kitchen.

“Emergencies?”

“Yeah,” May said, offering Peter a tender smile as she slung her arm around his shoulder. “Like when a certain superhuman kid comes crawling through the bedroom window with a broken bone or a burnt limb and he needs a little something to make it all better.”

“Does electrocution qualify?” 

“Yes.” 

“Yay!” He said a little too excitedly, like he might just go through all of this again just to get some ice cream. 

**Author's Note:**

> Phew 😅 there it is. This monster of a fic. 
> 
> I don’t know if it’s realistic. I tried to keep it as real as possible but like, writing superheroes is sometimes hard. I really felt awful writing May like that because she’s usually so caring. But at the same time, she’s young too and I feel like her temper might get the best of her sometimes. But hopefully no one hated May in this. 
> 
> Thanks for reading as always lovelies and have a great week :)


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